June 1, 2012

KOHN PARTNERSHIP ARCHITECTS INC.

The ONE Centre in the heart of Scarborough, Ont. features 71 commercial condominium units housed in four separate buildings. The majority of the units are approximately 1,000 square feet in size.

Ground breaks on The ONE Centre complex in Toronto

PATRICIA WILLIAMS

staff writer

Y.S. Group Canada Ltd. and Kohn Partnership Architects Inc. have broken ground on The ONE Centre, a new 70,000-square-foot commercial condominium complex in Scarborough’s Golden Mile area.

Scheduled for completion in spring 2013, the estimated $8.5 million project features 71 units targeted at small business owners. The majority of the units are approximately 1,000 square feet in size.

The complex has been designed as four separate buildings orientated around a landscaped parking area. Illuminated towers at the entrance enhance The ONE Centre’s street presence and aid direction.

Green features include a green roof on one of the buildings, white roofs elsewhere, and use of permeable pavers to allow the infiltration of storm water into the ground to maintain water balance and reduce overload on storm sewers. The landscaped parking area includes one tree for every five parking spaces.

The project, the first for the Y.S. Group outside of China, is being undertaken by a team that includes TriAxis Construction Ltd., mechanical & electrical engineers Decaria Engineering Ltd., structural engineers Y&V Engineering Ltd. and M + S Landscape Architects.

Kohn Partnership principal Harry Kohn, who was introduced to the Y.S. Group by a mutual colleague, said commercial condos are becoming increasingly popular, particularly in areas with strong ethnic communities which have largely been the catalyst in these types of projects.

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“Just as much of the population being priced out of buying low-rise homes in the greater Toronto Area has fuelled residential condo sales, commercial condo projects are attractive to the small business owner who once had limited opportunity to purchase their own business premises.”

More than 70 per cent of the space has been sold.

Y.S. Group Canada is a subsidiary of a large, privately held developer based in Zhejiang. The firm intends to build upon its roots in commercial-residential development on select projects in Canada.

The Toronto-based Kohn Partnership specializes in commercial, residential and mixed-use design. The firm is led by Kohn and Sean Lawrence.

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